Sunday 4 October 2020

The laptop that may starve Annie to death

In my last post, which was quite sometime ago, I wrote about difficulties accessing this blog using my laptop.

It turned out that my laptop was the actual cause of the problem.

I could use it for everything else except accessing this blog.

I have tried to fix it but was unsuccessful.

That explains why I have not been writing for quite a while.

So, with a heavy heart, I decided yesterday to buy a new laptop.

Honestly, I don't want to do so because the one I have been using seems perfectly okay, except when it comes to this blog.

Furthermore, I love that laptop. It was a gift from my friend Sufi who bought it for me in early 2012.

It was the only laptop I have ever own.

Yup, I have actually never bought a laptop before.

And now I have to buy one in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic which has significantly depleted my regular income.

I'm actually now using my savings to top up what I earn every month to make ends meet.

I was hoping I could survive like this for at least a year until the pandemic eases off and things get back to the old normal.

I had done my calculations and by right I could only afford a RM3k+ laptop.

However, I decided that I need something similar to the one I have been using as I don't want to start learning all over again on how to use a new laptop.

So, I went to the computer shop yesterday aiming to buy a RM4k+ laptop which is similar to the one I have been using.

I pointed to the salesman the one that I wanted on display and he went about doing the necessary.

When he asked for my credit card, I just handed it to him and proceeded to punch the numbers to make the purchase.

Then something terrible happened.

The salesman handed me the receipt and to my horror I realised that the laptop that I have purchased was priced at RM5.5k+.

It turned out that there were two versions of the laptop that I pointed at to the salesman.

The lower specs one at RM4.3k+ and the higher end one at RM5.5k+.

The salesman thought I wanted the more expensive one. He had shown me the specs, but being an IT idiot, I did not really look at it.

I almost cried when I realised my mistake.

Can't do anything as I have already paid for it.

When I reached home, I just left it in the box as I was still affected by the whole thing.

Oh, on top of the stupid purchase, it turned out that I also have to pay RM800+ for the laptop's three years' warranty. Really crazy.

Now, I have to adjust my finances again. Hopefully, I wouldn't starve to death during this Covid-19 season.

Maybe I should stock up more on Maggi. 

Well, nothing much else I could do.

Just now, I decided to unbox the laptop.

I have to do it sooner or later.

And there it is,


The laptop, which caused me severe depression over the last 24 hours....and probably more after this.

All just because I need to access this blog again.

Sigh.

16 comments:

  1. Why buy Apple macs? They're expensive just because of branding.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As I have mentioned, I have been using one for years and don't feel like using a different system.

      Delete
  2. sorry to hear your predicament that apple has undone you bare to the apples, give me account number to make you happy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks very much for your kind offer but I don't intend to use this blog to collect money for myself. I think I'll be okay after a few days.Just not my rezeki, I guess.

      Delete
  3. helo annie
    i come here almost everyday & it have become like somekind of hobby to me now....hope you and your family and everything is okey there.

    >james bond

    ReplyDelete
  4. Goodness! Annie,

    Why do you need such an expensive Apple Macbook for your writing work as well as blogging?

    The only new notebook PC I last bought new is an MSI with an AMD processor and a 500GB hard disk which I bought in 2011 at a IT trade exhibition which was on offer at RM999. I paid a bit more to upgrade its memory from 4GB to 8GB. It came without Windows and I installed Linux on it and I still use it today, though I used it only when I went on jobs outstation.

    I usually use a desktop PC at home for my work and play, and it's a used, 2009 vintage Dell Optiplex 755 Small Form Factor with Core2Duo processor which I bought for RM350 for the body alone some years back and upgraded to 6GB RAM and 2TB hard disk. It came with Windows Vista which I wiped out and installed Linux Mint instead. A similar vintage used desktop today costs around RM250 or less for the body alone. A set including used monitor, keyboard, mouse plus speakers would cost around RM400 - RM500.

    Linux is similar to Mac OS which is based on Unix, except that Linux is mostly free-of-charge to download and used and is also perfectly legal, and when needed, I can do photo and video editing using free-of-charge, open source applications such as Gimp, Gwenview, OpenShot, Handbreak and so forth, video DVD & CD image creation using DeVeDe and physical video DVD and CD writing using Brasero if needed. For word processing, spreadsheets and presentations I use LibreOffice, though a more MicroSoft Office-like alternative is the free-of-charge Linux version of WPS Office. Also, I have installed the free-of-charge Linux versions of Zoom, Teamviewer, Microsoft Teams, Google Chrome and WhatsApp Desktop.

    Below are photos of how an old and busted notebook running Windows XP was transformed into a refurbished notebook running the Chromebook-like Linux Chromixium. This notebook was given to me free of charge.

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZULZdYjjVD6hfuB0DSSvre_fLFnOBoAA/view?usp=sharing

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BgZHtgRJdDsfuofVUUI1skLQ6ANbv6P3/view?usp=sharing

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QU5tA2MYIE9s4VSWyRXX931YU0oTv6ck/view?usp=sharing

    Below are screencaps of various Linux distributions and desktops.

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gF6gDOWjfF8mSauJmubprVxAbj_kW739/view?usp=sharing

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/101cMaZIZIgUXiQqVtOPh-IDJaobi3h94/view?usp=sharing

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1efG6g2PG15tdTorRXX0gVfYGyb6SWcBf/view?usp=sharing

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/10qTrStgNzJADB5hwb8HQJ-h0rseOEgSV/view?usp=sharing

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zliEAjOMT1yoxqWORnvt85GRhztvOX-C/view?usp=sharing

    ReplyDelete
  5. Macbook prices are ridiculous and from Apple's website, it looks like you wanted a Macbook Air with a 1.1GHz Dual-Core Core i3 Processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz
    256 GB Storage and Touch ID which sells for RM 4,399.00 and instead was sold a Macbook Air with 1.1GHz Quad-Core Core i5 Processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz 512 GB Storage
    and Touch ID which goes for RM 5,599.00.

    https://www.apple.com/my/shop/buy-mac/macbook-air

    Macbook Pro prices start from RM 5,599.00 and the top of line Macbook Pro comes with 2.3GHz 8-Core Processor, 1TB Storage and AMD Radeon Pro 5500M, Turbo Boost up to 4.8GHz, AMD Radeon Pro 5500M with 4GB of GDDR6 memory, 16GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory, 1TB SSD storage, 16-inch Retina display with True Tone, Magic Keyboard, Touch Bar and Touch ID and Four Thunderbolt 3 ports for RM 12,199.00.

    https://www.apple.com/my/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/16-inch

    These prices are MADNESS especially for Malaysians with our rinngit currently at RM4.16 to the US dollar, an uncertain economy, many journalists having been been retrenched, many services industries and services workers struggling to survive and so forth, so why go into credit card debt to make Apple, its top management and its shareholders even richer than they already are?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are probably right...but it's done already. Thanks anyway.

      Delete
  6. IT COULD BE MIRACLE, WHEN YOU BELIEVE!
    Good Luck for Your future Endeavor 💪👌✌️💯✔️

    ReplyDelete
  7. Apple computers are expensive. If you have extra cash oklah. You would have gotten better value by buying an acer or hp. Not difficult to learn the system as they are mostly user friendly

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's not so easy for me though. That's why I sticked to the same. Thanks.

      Delete
  8. I thot u merajuk panjang....:),
    Surely u could have cancelled the transaction or return the item had u really wanted to..
    Anyway, welcome back, any comments on zahid?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not merajuk, just having some difficulties and then the computer problem. I'll write about politics later.

      Delete
  9. Congrats on ur new necessary albeit ridiculously expensive purchase.

    Thought u were sulking too.

    ReplyDelete